Judge says surrogate mom can stay in Dodge house

March 20, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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DeAun Nixon, the surrogate mother of triplets being raised by power couple Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, can stay in the Monarch Beach home where she's lived, rent-free, for several years, a judge ruled recently. MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Lawrence and Kristina Dodge. ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The combined Nixon and Dodge families billed themselves as a modern day "Brady Bunch" when this photo was shot in August 2011. Nixon, right, in red, can continue to live in the Dodge family guest house according to a recent court ruling. JOHN CHAPPLE

DeAun Nixon, the surrogate mother of triplets being raised by power couple Lawrence and Kristina Dodge, can stay in the Monarch Beach home where she's lived, rent-free, for several years, a judge ruled recently.MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Orange County power couple Lawrence and Kristina Dodge were unable to evict a surrogate mother from their seaside guest home in Monarch Bay because the property is in state conservatorship, according to an attorney in the case.

The Dodges' attempt to evict DeAun Nixon, who was the surrogate for their 2-year-old triplets, was recently dismissed before Judge Corey Cramin, said Nixon's attorney, Jennifer Axelrod.

The eviction case could not be found in the Orange County Superior Court database. The Dodges declined to comment on the case.

The Dodges – once worth $1 billion, according to Lawrence Dodge – were major philanthropists in Orange County. Kristina Dodge still sits on the OC Fair board and is a trustee for Chapman University.

The $9 million mansion is owned by Lawrence Dodge's American Sterling Insurance Co., which in 2011 was taken over by state regulators because of insufficient funds. The house is among the insurance companyassets that are subject to liquidation to pay back creditors, according to Scott Pearce, spokesman for the state insurance conservation and liquidations office.

The state is working to determine if the house must be sold to pay creditors while the Dodges still reside on the property, Pearce said.

Lawrence Dodge also owned a bank that was taken over by federal regulators in April 2009.

After living more than two years as one big family – Nixon and her four children in the guest house, the Dodges and their four children in the main home – the clan clashed. Nixon had lived rent-free in the guest house since 2009 and volunteered to be implanted with three donor eggs fertilized in vitro by then 71-year-old Larry Dodge.

Nixon, 51, has now filed for parental rights of the triplets in Orange County Superior Court. Despite Nixon's objection, Judge Caryl Lee approved Kristina Dodge's adoption of the three girls, Tatiana, Cozette and Alexandra, in mid-January.

Lee did not return three telephone messages.

Nixon has filed an appeal of the adoption, saying the surrogacy contract was fraudulent.

"My client is challenging the validity of that agreement," Axelrod said.

A hearing is expected in April before Judge Mary Fingal Schulte, according to Axelrod.

Kristina Dodge would not discuss what is gearing up to be a complicated surrogacy case. But she offered a short statement: "I am raising these children since they were born. I will continue to shower them with love – as a true parent should – rather than appealing to the court of public opinion."

Meanwhile, Lawrence Dodge remains in federal bankruptcy court, where documents say he has total assets of $1.6 million and liabilities of $24 million.

Documents show he owes $10 million in pledges alone to, among other nonprofits, Opera Pacific, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and UC Irvine.

The Dodges also have been ordered in Superior Court to pay $3.3 million to the Kansas City Art Institute to make up what is still owed on a $5 million pledge.

Bankruptcy files show Dodge has hired bankruptcy attorney Mike D. Neue and has paid him with a Schimmel Lucite custom piano estimated at $30,000.

The Dodges declare their monthly expenses are normally $12,968, but they are living on $3,952 a month in Social Security checks.

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